KENNEDALE, Texas (March
2)--After losing two of the
weekend's three events, the Summit
USMTS Southern Series powered by
Production Jars invaded the
Kennedale Speedway Park on Friday
for the third round of the Summit
USMTS Winter Speedweeks, and the wet
Texas week finished off with a
fantastic finish for the history
books.

After scoring the most
heat race passing points, Clyde Dunn
Jr. redrew the pole position for the
start of the 40-lap Summit Racing
Equipment "A" Main but after
catching a rut in the first turn a
flat tire sent him to the pits along
with two others as caution waved off
the initial start.

Grant
Junghans USMTS Rookie of the Year
contender Ethan Dotson of
Bakersfield, Calif., set the pace
for the restart and pulled out to a
sizeable lead with two-time USMTS
national champ Rodney Sanders in
tow.

Lapped traffic came into
play with eight laps in the books,
and Sanders used it to his advantage
to squeeze underneath Dotson and
grab the lead while Jack Sartain,
Kevin Rutherford and 17th-starting
Cade Dillard filling the rest of the
first five spots.

Sanders
stretched his lead over the next ten
laps and began to put drivers
running among the top ten a lap
down.

Meanwhile, Dunn had
worked his way back up to eighth
after restarting the race at the
rear of the pack but suffered a
second flat tire and exited the
rough-and-tumble battle.

With
20 down, officials cut the distance
to 35 laps due to the rough
conditions, but Dotson was reeling
in Sanders and pulled even as the
pair streaked beneath the white
flag.

Sanders went low
entering the final corner while
Dotson scraped the mud off the
outside concrete wall. Sanders slid
up as he exited turn four as Dotson
crossed over underneath.

Coming to the checkered flag, it
looked as if a photo-finish was
inevitable but Sanders suddenly
slowed-a victim of a broken
transmission-as Dotson scooted
underneath and crossed the finish
line first to score his first USMTS
victory.

"No way I ever
thought we could get a win this
early on, this is awesome," Dotson
told USMTS announcer Chris Stepan in
victory lane after just his third
career USMTS start. "I wish my
family could be here for his. Dad,
we did it."

Dotson, who
turned 19 in January, is travelling
with Joe Duvall and crew chief Scott
Drake this season, Both drivers are
utilizing a Chevrolet Performance
CT-525 crate engine.

"I can't
thank Joe and Scott enough for
giving me this opportunity and their
priceless feedback," he added. "When
Rodney got by me I just wanted to
stay with him. I saw him slow there
at the end and I crossed him over
and was just able to get by.

"This is just awesome."

With
the race shortened to 35 laps,
Sanders was able to get the
runner-up paycheck with Dillard
charging to the third spot. Another
rookie, Zane Ferrell, finished
fourth and Johnny Scott passed 15
cars en route to a fifth-place
finish.

The 9th Annual Summit
USMTS Winter Speedweeks continues
this Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
March 9-11, when the USMTS invades
three of the fastest dirt tracks in
Mississippi for a two-fer featuring
the Summit USMTS Southern Series and
USMTS Hunt for the Casey's Cup.

The titanic tripleheader gets
started Friday at the historic
Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram with
gates opening at 5:30 and racing at
7:30 with Crate Late Models,
Sportmans and Factory Stocks also on
the bill.

Then on Saturday
the touring titans of the USMTS
bring the boom to the "House of
Hook" at the Whynot Motorsports Park
in Meridian with racing at 6:30 and
six big divisions of racing.

The action reaches a boiling point
on Sunday as the meanest machines in
America make their maiden voyage to
the legendary Magnolia Motor
Speedway in Columbus for a
wheel-to-wheel showdown at "The Mag"
with four classes in action and the
green flag waving at 5:15.